The Times says it obtained a campaign memo indicating the former Massachusetts governor and 2008 GOP presidential primary candidate will hit Sacramento, the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Orange County and the Inland Empire next Tuesday through Thursday. Among the stops is barbecue Tuesday at the Portola Valley home of Sun Microsystems co-founder Scott McNealy, for which tickets will cost from $1,000 to $10,000.

Romney makes the fundraising sweep as he comes off what was generally seen as a solid performance this past Monday night at the first GOP primary debate in New Hampshire; the presumptive frontrunner – based on fundraising and name recognition – seemed to emerge largely unscathed, as his rivals aimed their fire instead at President Obama.

“It’s the overhead and the overhang, the clouds brought in by Sacramento and Washington, D.C., the regulations, the deficit and the misallocation of resources. It’s all of those things. Obviously, I’m a believer in the private sector and in personal responsibility,” he said. “The biggest issues with the Valley are local, state and federal governmental overreach and overregulation. It’s over-pensioned, over-unionized and over the top.”

Liberals fear that Romney will be able to make a strong case against re-electing President Obama!

John W

Re: #1

This “liberal” doesn’t think that way. Given that Obama’s re-election chances are probably 50/50 at this point, I want the GOP to nominate somebody whose instincts are those of a centrist or center-right pragmatist, not a Bachman or Perry. I’m predicting a Romney/Rubio ticket.

Truthclubber

Rubio doesn’t give Romney what he needs with his base — “neo-con cred” and buy-in from the Teabaggers, as well as making sure that the Palinistas don’t stay home come election day — but one fellow candidate does: Michele Bachmann.

Romney/Bachmann 2012.

Wing, meet nut. Nut, say hi to wing.

John W

Think you’re quite mistaken about that Truthclubber. Rubio would give Romney exactly what he needs — someone who (a) is very popular with the Tea Party crowd, (b) can cut into the Democrats’ advantage with Latino voters, (c) is a dynamic speaker and campaigner and (d) can help nail down the all important Florida electoral vote.

Bachman would also be an obvious possibility. She fires up the the Tea Party base, but I don’t think the fact that she is a woman would do much for the ticket. No Democratic or independent woman would vote for her just because she’s woman, but some Latinos who would otherwise vote Democratic or stay at home would vote for a ticket with Rubio. Republicans don’t need to get a majority of the Latino vote. They just need to shave a few points off the Democrats’ advantage — which they are working hard to accomplish with voter ID (i.e., voter suppression) laws. Rubio would be icing on the cake.

Elwood

toothsucker wrong?

Say it isn’t so!

Although he is a notorious liar, who keeps bobbing to the surface like a **** in a punch bowl.

Truthclubber

With all due respect, “Johnnie Double-U”:

1) I called Clinton over Bush I in 1991 (a year before he won) — and I won a great dinner for four at Chez Panisse, in case you wondered if stakes, not just bluff, were on the line on any of these calls

2) I called Obama’s eventual victory in the nomination over the “Clintonistas” BEFORE the California primary in 2008

3) I called Obama’s pick of Biden as his Veep weeks before it happened (as the MSM was saying it HAD to be Clinton), since he needed to bolster his lack of foreign policy chops as well as gravitas

4) I called McFail’s pick of a woman to be his Veep weeks before it happened, since I knew he had to try to pull some of the “Clintonistas” away from the Democrats — just got it wrong with putting my money on Carly Fiorina instead of that joke-in-waiting, “Sister Sarah”.

It’s gonna be “Romney/Bachmann 2012″ because she (Bachmann) is gonna suck all the Tea Party support oxygen out of the nomination air UNLESS she is added to the ticket as she continues to mount an almost insumountable (but eventually unsuccessful) challenge to Romney’s coronation as the 2012 nominee — witness this FACT:

Did you also predict the winner of the World Series, the Super Bowl and the NBA finals and become fabulously wealthy?

What an egotistical lying sphincter you are!

John W

Truthclubber:

I always love it when somebody starts with the line, “with all due respect…”.

My heartiest congratulations on your magical powers of prediction. My own analysis of the 2012 GOP veep situation was obviously deeply flawed and intellectually bankrupt. I cower in the complete chastisement and humiliation you have visited upon me. How can I ever live with myself?

RR, senile columnist

I picked Texas to win the AL flag last yr and also said King Kong would escape once he reached NY!

John W

I predicted the Sun would rise and set yesterday, and both predictions came true just as I said they would.